Best of '02 ready for first '03 start

Published 4:00 am, Friday, April 4, 2003

Azeri is such a great horse that she finds her way into trainer Laura de Seroux's conversations about the rest of her stable.

Azeri, the 2002 Horse of the Year, will make her first start of 2003 in the $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap on Saturday at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. Azeri won that Grade 1 race last year and has 10 victories and one second in 11 career starts.

De Seroux has two other horses returning from layoffs this weekend: Little Treasure in the $75,000-added Miss America Handicap on Saturday at Bay Meadows and Ballingarry in the $150,000 Arcadia Handicap on Sunday at Santa Anita.

Little Treasure was purchased by de Seroux's bloodstock agent, husband Emmanuel, for a partnership of owners last summer after she won four of seven starts in her native France.

"Buying horses over there has been his speciality," de Seroux said by cell phone Wednesday during a plane change in Dallas. "She had very good form and very good tactical speed for a European horse. She looked like the perfect type for American racing, and it has worked out very well."

Little Treasure made her U.S. debut in the Grade 2 San Clemente Handicap on Aug. 3 at Del Mar and won by a nose. She also won the Grade 3 Pucker Up Stakes on Sept. 14 at Arlington Park, but finished last in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Oct. 12 at Keeneland and hasn't raced since.

"At Keeneland, it just rained and rained for three days before the race, and the grass was knee-deep," de Seroux said. "We decided it was a good time to give her a rest. She just ran off the plane in the San Clemente and then went to Arlington and Keeneland, so she had traveled a lot in a short period."

"I intended to start her out in the Buena Vista Handicap (at Santa Anita on Feb. 17), but my whole stable came down with a fever and cough," de Seroux said. "This filly is doing great now. Weight-wise, she looks strong and fit, and she's keen and ready to go. I feel very good about this race."

De Seroux didn't mention the illness' effect on Azeri when she participated in a national conference call on Tuesday -- because there wasn't any.

"She's not mortal," de Seroux said. "She is above everything. Horses all around her, backside of her, next to her, they all got it. She didn't."

Azeri's 2003 debut was delayed, however, because of a dispute among the heirs of the late Allen Paulson. The family's thoroughbreds, including Azeri, were scheduled to be sold at auction on March 4 at Barretts in Pomona (Los Angeles County), but an agreement was reached a few days earlier to keep them.

"She's had an enforced rest, but it probably has worked out to our benefit, " de Seroux said. "She's training off the map. She's physically stronger than she was last year, if that's possible. Her workouts look the same visually, but the watch says she's working faster than she used to. She is fit and ready to go, and I expect her to run great."